BP Predicts Small Future Role for Renewables

Energy production by renewable sources will roughly quadruple by 2030, but the use of such energy will still only account for fraction of energy consumption, according to a report by BP.

BP Energy Outlook 2030 says that by 2030 global energy production from renewable sources will rise to the equivalent of 860.2 million metric tons of oil, up from the equivalent of 264.1 million metric tons of oil in 2015.

By 2030, the Asia Pacific region will be producing the equivalent of 338.9 million metric tons of oil, more than any other region. North America will be producing 191.3 equivalent tons and Europe and Eurasia 252.4, the report says.

However, total global energy production will be the equivalent of 16.6 billion metric tons of oil by 2030, up from 13.5 billion in 2015, meaning renewable sources will account for around just 5 percent of global energy production at that time, according to the report.

Coal and oil will still be the largest sources of energy produced, with each accounting for over 4.5 billion metric tons of oil or oil equivalent by 2030, the report says.

In December, Tata Power announced that it was to buy out BP Alternative Energy Holdings’ remaining shares in the companies’ joint venture Tata BP Solar. The companies have a technology agreement that affords Tata BP Solar access to certain BP technology until 2013.